Originally this was going to be a dual OTTI featuring an asamushi and a fukamushi shincha OTTI, running concurrently. 10 different shincha.

This all came undone on March 9th. As we watched the events unfold, the Japanese tea industry was also in turmoil.

Then just when we thought, OK, the worst is over, then all the smoke and mirrors happened in Shizuoka. For a while it was hard to discern exactly what was going on. Since at least 1/3 of the dual OTTI shincha teas were to come from Shizuoka.

But bottom line, Shizuoka teas were contaminated. But we did not know how bad the situation was. I decided to wait til after the government officials determined how the teas were going to be tested so we could hopefully make heads or tails out of the situation.

Sadly, a final determination was made, I would not include Shizuoka tea in OTTIs for the foreseeable future. I just could not include them in good conscience.

On top of this, everyone in the Japanese tea industry was scrambling ... and Shincha was moving on. Time was not on my side.

Then, on a personal note, after a long "illness" my father passed away ...

OK, enough bad news, there is some good news. I have 2 shincha asamushi and two shincha fukamushi which I will combine into one OTTI. There will be 10 grams of each selection for participating members to sample/taste. And these are very divergent selections!!!

Chip wrote:I have 2 shincha asamushi and two shincha fukamushi which I will combine into one OTTI. There will be 10 grams of each selection for participating members to sample/taste. And these are very divergent selections!!!

Chip wrote:I have 2 shincha asamushi and two shincha fukamushi which I will combine into one OTTI. There will be 10 grams of each selection for participating members to sample/taste. And these are very divergent selections!!!

Nice !

Nicer yet ... this is the Official 3 day notification of this OTTI going live. The Shincha OTTI will go live on Thursday July 7 at 6 PM Eastern USA time.

What does this mean? In 3 days I will post the official topic here and members can "sign up." So, mark your calenders and watch for the topic!!!

mlafranc wrote:Chip, your dedication to this community is much appreciated!

Thank you kindly, it is a labor of love!

bob wrote:Great! I want to re-visit the green teas this summer so this OTTI sounds perfect!

But I start with holidays in about 2 weeks... Any chance the OTTI starts before?

Could you please tell us a bit more about the selection? Are the four teas more like typical representatives of their class, or are they more like special, uncommon versions? Since you selected them, I trust they are all very high quality!

Could you please tell us a bit more about the selection? Are the four teas more like typical representatives of their class, or are they more like special, uncommon versions? Since you selected them, I trust they are all very high quality!

I can say this for now, they are each quite different from each other. I will include all the details in the actual topic.

Could you please tell us a bit more about the selection? Are the four teas more like typical representatives of their class, or are they more like special, uncommon versions? Since you selected them, I trust they are all very high quality!

I can say this for now, they are each quite different from each other. I will include all the details in the actual topic.